When shipping fragile products, it is desirable to provide protection against external shock which is as complete as possible and, at the same time, minimize both packaging and shipping costs. Foam inserts at the ends or corners of a shipping carton are commonly cut or glued to shape in order to support either the product or an internal package enclosing the product at each end or at all corners and protect it against damage which might otherwise be caused by external forces applied to the top, bottom, sides, ends, or corners of the shipping carton. For small packages, corrugated or honeycomb cardboard inserts are commonly used to the same end. Inserts with complex three-dimensional shapes, particularly when parts need to be glued during the assembly process, tend to add undesirably to packaging costs and, hence, to total shipping costs. The present invention avoids any need for either gluing or complex three-dimensional shapes and permits inserts to be die cut from a single flat blank which can then be simply snapped into its assembled position for insertion into an outer shipping carton to provide the desired product protection.